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SYQS: Symposium Nonequilibrium Collective Behavior in Open Classical and Quantum Systems

SYQS 1: Nonequilibrium Collective Behavior in Open Classical and Quantum Systems

SYQS 1.5: Hauptvortrag

Donnerstag, 20. März 2025, 17:15–17:45, H1

Learning dynamical behaviors in physical systems — •Vincenzo Vitelli — University of Chicago, Chicago, USA

Physical learning is an emerging paradigm in science and engineering whereby (meta)materials acquire desired macroscopic behaviors by exposure to examples. So far, it has been applied to static properties such as elastic moduli and self-assembled structures encoded in minima of an energy landscape. Here, we extend this paradigm to dynamic functionalities, such as motion and shape change, that are instead encoded in limit cycles or pathways of a dynamical system. We identify the two ingredients needed to learn time-dependent behaviors irrespective of experimental platforms: (i) learning rules with time delays and (ii) exposure to examples that break time-reversal symmetry during training. After providing a hands-on demonstration of these requirements using programmable LEGO toys, we elucidate how they emerge from physico-chemical processes involving the causal propagation of fields. Our trainable particles can self-assemble into structures that move or change shape on demand, either by retrieving the dynamic behavior previously seen during training. This phenomenology is captured by a non-reciprocal Hopfield spin model amenable to analytical treatment. The principles illustrated here provide a step towards von Neumann’s dream of engineering synthetic living systems that adapt to the environment.

Keywords: learning; non-reciprocity; Active matter; robotics; metamaterials